Welcome Home
by Keri's letters
Summary: Keri, a 17 year old teenager is in the midst of a Korean invasion. She runs to the forest and finds a group of people like she. Robert becomes closer to her and suddenly Keri feels she has something to hold onto. I'm not good making summaries so preferably read the fic.


**Hello! Well I'm excited because this is my first fanfic :) Like I said, English is not my first language so you can tell me that I have the worse spelling ever.**

**Please read, review and enjoy**

* * *

"Wolverines!" All the stadium roar at the same time.

"Seems like they're having fun" Dad says. I give a quickly look to the stadium but it isn't enough to let me see what was happening but I can tell it was one of the final games. "Do you want to watch the game?"

I shake my head because I am too tired to watch it. Driving wasn't that easy for me but I didn't complain about because dad said it was very important to learn how to drive before it was too late. Dad always is making me learn new things that could serve me in the future and also I have to learn a lot of languages because we always moved, never stayed in the same place for one year.

We only have lived in USA but we've been in Hawaii and Alaska. When I lived in Unalakleet, AK a tribe taught me how to survive in the woods. One day they tested me, making me survive with a partner for five days but before that they prepared me; It was my seventh birthday when they gave me my partner, a Newfoundland pup, I name her Kuma that means 'bear'. I'm glad dad didn't say no when I asked him to let me do that test because now Kuma is my best friend and she obeys me like if her life depends on it.

I'm parking the Cherokee in front of the police station while dad is getting his stuff ready for his friend. I open my door and then Kuma jumps to me and then to the ground, she stretches her legs, and I do the same. We walk to main entrance and a few steps before dad turns to me. "I'm just looking for Tom, I promise this is going to be quickly". I smile and nod.

When the door closes behind me all the lights turn off, like if the doors were the switch. I grab Kuma's collar and then my dad's hand. He gets closer to me and grabs me by my shoulders. I hear how the police officers start to search for lights and then they turn them on. We walk to a police man that is searching something on a desk and dad asks him where he can find Sargent Eckert. The police man first looks to Kuma, then me and then he answers. "He will arrive here in a few minutes. You can wait him in his office."

"Thank you officer." The police man nods and then continues searching. Dad drives me to Tom's office but when when we arrive it we see it is locked, so we sit on the floor and wait for him. Everybody that pass by our side look at us as trash but I don't care. I was petting Kuma when I fall asleep and when I wake up I am on a couch.

"I'm glad you came James." Says Sargent Tom to my dad giving him some keys. "I'm so sorry I can't offer you and your daughter a bed in my house. Maybe next time you can tell me you are going to be on town."

My dad laughs. "If I didn't in high school, I'm not doing it today." He turned to me and give me a small smile, he didn´t see I was awake because it is too dark and my hair is on my face. "I want you to meet my daughter, maybe she gets along with Mattie. He is the youngest isn't it?"

Tom nods at the same time an officer enters to the office. "Sir, we need you." He says and Tom gives him a signal, then he turns to dad and says goodbye. I didn't see two old men saying goodbye but to friends happy to see them again, and I'm glad dad was happy because he didn't have a lot of friends as I.

Dad carries me to the Cherokee and drives home. It isn't our home but we are going to be there for a couple of weeks so I thought I can call it home.

I'm lying on my bed looking the roof with nothing to do. I turn to see the watch and I get angry with myself when I see it is 6:13 am and I can't sleep, so I take a bath. When I finishing I feel how the ground shakes. I take my emergency backpack and run to the street, followed by my dad and Kuma.

I see the sky and it is full of war planes and soldiers with parachutes. Then a war plane hits something and comes down, making an explosion and an earthquake when it hits the ground. "Get in the Cherokee." I didn't hesitate and in one second I was on my sit with Kuma on my lap. Dad starts to drive avoiding the obstacles and avoiding the soldiers that are close to us. Some of the streets are blocked by soldiers and their trucks so every time dad stops the Cherokee I hit the window and immediately hit my seat. It is a bumpy ride until we find Tom, dad tells me to change places as he walks to Tom.

"What's happening?" Dad asks. Tom is looking to the empty street like if there was something in there, he is quiet and holding his arm, his eyes revel that he is really worried. "Tom, I need to get my daughter out of town." And with the word 'daughter' Tom reacts.

"The summer house, do you remember it? My sons will be there." Dad nods, gives him a quick thank you gesture and runs to me, he is in the window giving me the directions when I hear a gunshot. Dad's eyes find mine and he sees me like he used to see me when I was scared. "Be the moon." He says and with his last breath his dead body hits the ground, letting me see the soldier that is behind him.

A cry emerges from me making my chest hurt. I accelerate, passing in front of the soldier and making him fall. Barely I can see what is in front of me because of the tears but I still driving. I get out of town trying to memorize how to go to Tom's summer house. "I need to follow the freeway and then a small path is going to appear on my left, then straight until there is a... there is..." I can´t remember and crying doesn't help in anything. I begin to go cross country because I don't want to be near the freeway and see a soldier and maybe the house appears in front of me.

I see the train rails and a river. I stop the Cherokee and when I open the door I fall to the ground, my hands around my knees and my head between them, I feel like I'm going to throw up. I let my sadness go until anger invades me and makes me feel alive, burning in body and mind. I stand up and run to the train rails, then I return and I repeat this until my legs don't let me move. Kuma that has being by my side all this time sits next to me and watches me with eyes of 'everything is going to be alright.' So I start to search for stuff to make a shelter, before I go to the woods, I search in the Cherokee and I find three knives, I put the small one between my boobs, the medium inside my boot and the biggest I keep it in my hand.

By the evening I cover the Cherokee with leaves to camouflage it but I don't start a fire because I fear they'll find me. My dad always had three sleeping bags so I put them in the back of the truck where Kuma and I are going to sleep. When I try to sleep my mind bothers me with anger, sorrow, sadness, fear and a love for revenge. I start to imagine how I'll revenge my father until I fall asleep.

When I wake up I drive until I find a cave where I can hide for a time but when I try to open the gate I see it is locked. I try to open it with my knives and with two sticks but it can't be opened. I feel horrible because I can't open that gate, because my dad is dead, because I'm alone, because I can't go home. I cry for like an hour until Kuma growls. I see two boys behind the trees watching me so I stand up I run to the other side to reach them from behind. When I'm near them I hear them talking. "I told you she was right there," Says the boy of dark skin. "She was crying, I think she needed help."

"Daryl, I saw something but maybe it was a deer." Says the other one with a hat. Both of them don´t have any weapon so I keep my knife down.

"I'm right behind you two." I say walking to them. I think I scare them to death because of their faces and because they look me like if I was the death. "What do you want?"

I watch them carefully. The dark skin one is tall and thin, his eyes are like mine, dark as the night, he looks like a little kid that was scared to hell, and the other is pale with freckles, he has hazel eyes a prominent jaw and thin lips, he is really cute. None of them seem like having bad intentions but who knows. Before they answer, a guy with a riffle appears on my right side, in three moves I disarm him making his riffle be under Kuma's feet. "Mine." I say to her because that's the word for her to protect my stuff.

Suddenly someone hits me and I fall to the ground. I see a man standing in front of me with another riffle. Kuma starts to bark to him as he points his riffle to her. "Kuma, don't. What do you want?" I ask again.

"Jed. Daryl found her crying and call me to see if we helped her. She's not dangerous." Says the guy with the hat. The man that hit me name is Jed, and Daryl is the dark skin one. "We can help her she's wounded."

Am I wounded? I didn't know but I haven't have the time to feel my body. I see how they discuss in lower voice to see if they keep me or they kill me, because I can run and tell the soldiers that they're there. "You can sleep with us tonight but I'm going to ask you a few questions." I don't know if I want to be with them but I need food. I nod. "Ok. I'm Jed, he's Mattie, Robert and Daryl." Robert is the one with the hat and Mattie the other one with the other riffle.

"Name's Keri and she's Kuma." I say. I don't say that I have a Cherokee in case I have to run of them. I follow them for a couple minutes until I see the cave I wanted, I don´t know how they opened the gate but I'm glad. Inside the cave I see two girls and two boys more cleaning and making everything feel like home. Jed makes me follow him again to the woods but this time we sit in the entrance.

"By the way sorry for hitting you." I frown. "Ok. You are going to tell me what happened with you and if you have guns and you experience in battle field."

After I told him what happened with my dad he rubs my shoulder like making me feel better, I'm sure his dad is also dead. I show him my knives but only my hand one and the one I have in my boot. He nods and let me keep going. "I've no idea what to do in battle field. Maybe run or hide."

"Sure you know what to do. You disarmed Mattie in three seconds, and that's the reason I'm going to ask you to give me your knives…" before he finishes I give him my knives. He looks confused. "If you are going to stay you better help with the chores." He stands up and walks to the cave, before entering he stops and adds. "We are going to war so tomorrow morning we are going to learn how to use weapons and how to defend ourselves."

I look Kuma and pet her for a while before meeting everyone. They show me my place that is a sleeping bag. The other girls are Toni, a friend of Jed and Mattie, and there is Julie with her brother, whose name I forgot, and Danny. Daryl helps me with the trash and tells me what happened in the morning, also he tells me what Jed said about going and fight for our home. I think what he said can make people stand up and fight but we need to prove everybody that we are capable to win or at least that we have a chance.

When is time to eat, Robert opens two cans with something that seems like no food, he divides and then passes to my food. The first bite is disgusting but the second is better, when I feel I recover all I lose I give the rest to Kuma, I think I'll have to return to the Cherokee and grab some food for her or maybe go to town. I don't talk during dinner but when they ask me about my life.

When everybody is done the lights turn off and we try to sleep, I feel Daryl's body near me and that makes me be awake because I feel I'm going to roll over him. During the first part of the night I'm awake, petting Kuma, but then everything turns dark and I don't feel nothing.


End file.
